I live about five miles away from Boxhill, the major scene of outdoor pedalling at last year's Olympics.

Every f*cking Sunday "ALL" the local roads are clogged up with these twats in skin tight lycra pretending they are f*cking Bradley Wiggins, riding six abreast. I'm sure they think they look like the dog's nuts, but the reality is that it seems even golfers have better dress sense.

Being honest, I think it's about time the government started hitting them for road tax, as they spend so long on them.

Transport was invented for getting from A to B, not from A, back to f*cking A again. Driving 40-50 miles, to ride a bike round in BIG circles not actually getting anywhere. Yep, although the cycling is about as environmentally friendly as you can get, the "getting to" the cycling probably isn't. And they get the added bonus that after ten laps of Boxhill, they then walk round looking like they've found a new "on-board" stowage location for their drinks bottles.

Honestly, I don't mind cycling or cyclists, as long as it's proportionate. Unfortunately, if you happen to be around Leatherhead or Dorking on a Sunday, you'd probably agree that "proportionate" is one thing it definitely isn't.

What is left of your dream?Just the words on your stone.A man who learnt how to teach,But forgot how to learn.

Kes wrote:Being honest, I think it's about time the government started hitting them for road tax, as they spend so long on them.

Vehicle Excise Duty is a tax on vehicles, not on 'roads'. Given that many cars are now exempt because of low emissions, I hardly see how it's fair to charge a cyclist! I would rather the government had a massive crackdown on the number of cars that now park on pavements (mostly because of double yellow lines that are now meaningless) and verges, because it's completely out of control.

Maybe that's what they SHOULD be doing, screwing any anti-social behaviour, rather than running down public services.

Funny how when literally EVERYBODY in the public service industry is under pressure to lose 20% of their budget, we still have exactly the same number of MPs falling asleep in the House of Commons. I said ages ago that most politicians were out to screw everyone else, while looking after themselves, it just seems a bit more obvious now.

Anyways, good on the cyclists who enjoy what they do. I still think that if it becomes as popular as it is round the Olympic road route at the moment, that they should have their own facility, instead of making themselves like the flying element of a grouse shoot by incorporating the A24 dual carriageway into their circuit training.

What is left of your dream?Just the words on your stone.A man who learnt how to teach,But forgot how to learn.

as much as you see a bike as a transportation, many people choose to ride it instead of paying high monthly fees at a gym. I see more and more people around here, and others use it as a warming up for rowers, for example. Here in Portugal, apart from one or two regions, riding a bike as transportation is an epic journey as we are a very hilly country.

Nah, the company I work for are going all out to subsidise people buying bikes to cycle into work.

As I live 62 miles away from the place, and travel to and from every work day (a 12 hour shift), I'd probably arrive home just with time to have a quick sandwich, a shower, and then to set off again on my way back.

What is left of your dream?Just the words on your stone.A man who learnt how to teach,But forgot how to learn.

fairydandy wrote:Vehicle Excise Duty is a tax on vehicles, not on 'roads'.

wikipedia wrote: A vehicle (from Latin: vehiculum) is a mobile machine that transports passengers or cargo. Most often, vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats and aircraft.

Petty point-scoring aside, cyclists are hypocrites (and I am one, or more accurately, both). Their (highly generalised) response to being the more vulnerable side in any potential collision is to mount the pavement into an environment where they're much safer and other people become vulnerable to them.

They run red lights with utter impunity, go the wrong way down one way streets, fail to indicate, or have lights, and use zebra crossings as a slip lane between pavement and road (wait until the traffic stops, then ride off in front of them).

fairydandy wrote:Vehicle Excise Duty is a tax on vehicles, not on 'roads'.

wikipedia wrote: A vehicle (from Latin: vehiculum) is a mobile machine that transports passengers or cargo. Most often, vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats and aircraft.

Petty point-scoring aside, cyclists are hypocrites (and I am one, or more accurately, both). Their (highly generalised) response to being the more vulnerable side in any potential collision is to mount the pavement into an environment where they're much safer and other people become vulnerable to them.

They run red lights with utter impunity, go the wrong way down one way streets, fail to indicate, or have lights, and use zebra crossings as a slip lane between pavement and road (wait until the traffic stops, then ride off in front of them).

Unless & until we have dedicated cycle paths, bikes should be banned.

Totally agree. Dunno how many times I've been crossing the road when the green man signal is showing yet I've had to stop cos some idiot on a bike decides to ignore the red light and zoom right in front of me. If you are gonna cycle on the road, obey the fucking rules.